PowerBook G4 15″

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Finally! I have wanted a laptop Mac for a long time now, but I really couldn’t bring myself to buy one since it really is no need for one. I have a perfectly working laptop running XP that does everything I want (but stutters during video/audio playback) such as light browsing and taking notes. And then this pearl came along. For no more than a mere $80 plus really cheap shipping it was mine. I couldn’t resist! As I hope is visible from the images it is in… well, at least close to mint condition – with everything working like a charm. It even came with original discs, manuals in my language and the stickers. The only catch is that the battery is dead, a full charge lasts not even ten minutes so the first thing I did was placing a bid for a new battery. I am also considering adding 1 GB to max out the RAM, but that’s just optional. This is great, Macing the sofa.

Oh, and the OS currently installed is Leopard. I didn’t think it was going to work as well as it does. Nice surprise!

Specs:
G4 1.67Hz
1 GB RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 64MB
80GB HDD
15″

Current to do list:
* Replace battery
* Add 1 GB of RAM Didn’t work because of faulty lower slot!

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iPod Classic

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So, why did I get this iPod when I already have an iPod Touch 4G? Well, to be honest, I really bought the Touch to be able to play the games in App Store. It’s a bit too expensive and fragile to be laying around in my pockets even with protection. And with a mere 8 GB of storage my mp3 collection doesn’t fit. Thus, enter the iPod Classic! With 80 GB of storage it takes all of my mp3’s and can automatically sync with my library everytime it charges to get the newest songs as well. Plus, it’s already used and scratched which makes it easier to just drop it down one of my pockets like I didn’t care. I bought it for a bit over 30 dollars which makes it, for me, really really cheap and therefore I’m very happy about this purchase.
The problem this particular iPod had was a headphone jack that didn’t connect properly and the music only came out to one ear but a little bit of careful bending with a needle fixed that right up and now it works like a charm.

Specs:
Firmware 1.1.2
80 GB HDD

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Apple Cinema Display HD 23″

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This, my friends, is why I bought the forementioned Power Mac G5. I got this Apple Cinema Display HD for practically nothing! Sure, there are two problematic pixels (in the edges of the screen thankfully) and the stand isn’t adjustable (that is no fault by the way, that’s how they were made) but it really is a beautiful display. I like the fact that I can power on my computer by touching the bottom right corner of the screenframe – no more bending down to the floor!

Specs:
TFT LCD
1920×1200
23″

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Power Mac G5 – Coraline Jr

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And so, my very first Power Mac G5 found its way to me. This is not going to be my main G5 machine and there’s a couple of reasons why. First off, it has 1,8GHz processors. Yes, it’s dual, but it still isn’t what I wanted – which is 2GHz. Furthermore it didn’t have a harddrive and therefore no OS – and it got seriously damaged (it’s all in the photos) in the shipping due to a… from lack of a better word crappy delivery service. But with this package, and now we’re closing in on the main reason why I bought this, came a 23 inch HD Apple Cinema Display – which I will cover in a later post. Together, these two items costed me a total of 800 swedish crowns, postage included, which would be equivalent to around $115. I don’t know how this fairs in other parts of the world but with the current prices here in Sweden that is a downright steal. I’m very pleased with this, even though the case on the G5 got smashed pretty bad. I put my old hard drive that was running Leopard in my iMac G5 into the Power Mac G5 (now named Coraline Jr since it’s pretty much the same computer due to the plain switch of hard drive/content), expanded the RAM to 2GB and hooked it up. It runs great. But yeah, I have another G5 coming in very soon that’s pretty much more bad ass than this one on every level – which will be my main mac computer.

Specs:
Dual G5 1.8GHz
3.5GB RAM
nVidia GeForce FX 5200 64MB
500GB HDD

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Current to do list:
* Figure out why two of my 1GB sticks of RAM only reads as 512MB each DONE!
* Try to fix the broken optical drive hatch (it stays down once opened) DONE!
* Add internal bluetooth (is it maybe possible to use the internal bluetooth module from my iMac G5?)

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WANTED – iPod 5G

Here’s the third and currently last item in my wanted list – the classic iPod. For the best look contra passable space for songs I have to go with the fifth generation of these jewels. I’m aiming at the 80GB model in white, let us hope I manage to find one in acceptable condition and for a reasonable price eventually!

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WANTED – Power Mac G5

Here’s another one of my most wanted machines. The Power Mac G5 is very similar (almost identical, to be fair) to the Mac Pro with the slight slight difference that it runs on a G5 which makes it a PowerPC mac. This wonderful machine is capable of almost anything as long as you know how to do it.

The one I am currently trying to get has a dual 2GHz processor with 4GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. The graphics card was really good as well but I keep forgetting what it was called. I’m crossing my fingers on this one guys, because it’s the top of the line. It doesn’t get much more fancy than this.

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iPod Touch 4G – Keith

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I really haven’t got all that much to say about this item. I’m not really a fan of the ultra thin design and would very much prefer a old classic 80GB iPod if it wasn’t for the games. I mainly bought this to gain access to all the apps in App Store. I also use it as a music player of course, but since I was cheap and bought the 8GB model there isn’t very much space for anything. I’m content with it as it is, but as soon as I lay my hands on the forementioned iPod I’ll be using this one strictly as a gaming device. Oh, and it got its name from Keith Apicary.

Specs:
Firmware 5.1
8GB HDD

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WANTED – iMac G4

Yes, well, I also have a section on this blog called Wanted. It’s simply here to remind myself in case I forget what matters in life. And the first one I have to input in this list is of course, the one and the only iMac G4.

Let’s just… let’s just take a moment here guys. Let’s look at it in silence. Marvel its beauty.

…

Aaaand we’re back. I would very much like the strongest model available of these which would be the one that came out in late 2003. It had a 1.25GHz processor and sported a nice 17″ (I know there’s a 20″ version as well but I don’t really need it for this project so why waste money) screen. I found a clip on YouTube worth a link about it.

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iMac G5 – Coraline

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This was the first Apple product I ever bought. I immediately fell in love with the look of it and I just had to get one – that immediately was given the name Coraline. I went with the large model, 20″ screen, a 1.8GHz processor and ample of storage space. It came pre-installed with Leopard and ran like a dream. It did most of the things I wanted and were always very quiet. And then one day it started to behave strange. The graphics couldn’t keep track of the colors and the startup disk was often lost during reboot. The disk repair application warned me about several serious problems with permissions, the structure of the hard drive and other things that I then tried to repair without any luck. I’d heard of blown capacitors and how this model was prone for trouble like that so I opened the case up in search of just these problems and found… nothing. Absolutely nothing. So I still don’t know to this day what is wrong with it, but I’d say a lot.

Since the hard drive showed so many signs of problems I switched it out for a brand new 500GB one and did a fresh install of Leopard. The computer then worked hassle free for a week or two before going back to the old problems and eventually died on me. The logic board must have some serious faults and the graphic card is probably also kind of screwed.. But it’s to expensive to fix considering how little I have to gain from restoring it. If it’s something we mac users know, it’s that the iMac G5 is a pain in the backside when it comes to reliability.

Specs:
20″ matte display, 1680×1050
G5 1.8GHz
2GB RAM
nVidia GeForce FX 5200 64MB (not sure about the memory on the card)
Bluetooth
500GB HDD

Current to do list:
* Apply new thermal compound  DONE!
* Format and re-install Leopard a third time DONE!
* Try with older OS DONE!
* Maybe ask a friend to check the logic board

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Power Mac G4 – Gizmo

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Everybody, meet Gizmo! Gizmo, meet everybody! Now this one is interesting. I bought it for $30 and didn’t have to pay for shipping since the seller lived in my town. It came with 512MB of RAM, a standard 27GB hard drive that surely had seen better days and two extra USB slots on the back which made it a total of four. The first thing I did was to install maximum RAM, which is 2GB, and took out the hard drive. It was noisy and slow beyond acceptance – so I replaced it with a fast and quiet 120GB hard drive that previously sat in a classic Xbox. Since this is the only old Mac I own at this time that can handle more than one hard drive (the iMac G3 has place for only one) I also use it for when I get new hard drives that needs to be formatted or something along the lines of being prepared with OS X. I know that I could have bought a dual 1.42 GHz MDD with bluetooth, airport extreme and so on (a.k.a. the fancy pants option) for just a few bucks more but I didn’t get this computer for real work and prestanda, I bought it strictly for nostalgic values.

Speaking of OS X this Sawtooth is now running 10.4.11, Tiger that is, with absolute ease – and I have even taken the time to pimp the interface a bit. I didn’t want to buy ShapeShifter or any other third party application that costed money so what I did was use small freeware apps to just change the dock and the menu bar to being transparent – and that’s it. I then manually switched most of the folder icons and took the brushed aluminium look away to make it look really similar to Leopard. It’s not that I don’t like the look of Tiger, it’s a fantastic OS, but if I get an idea in my head I must try it.

All specs in screenshots.

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Current to do list:
* Take the airport card out and make it hook up through ethernet cable DONE!
* Get external speakers
* Install front USB (Is it even possible?)

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